To Love a Watchmaker
by Fandomgirl3114
Summary: A person of past importance shows up in Sylar's life, changing everything he knows and thinks about himself and what he wants. This is an AU taking place in the third to fourth season, and it revolves around canon events, so a spoiler alert there. Please R&R! Thanks!
1. Chapter 1

Jessica Travers woke to another average gray day. She turned off her alarm and pulled her pillow on top of her head. She didn't want to get up. She didn't want to go out and face the happy average people that roamed the streets all day, lost in themselves. She didn't want to put on a mask, to pretend it didn't hurt to smile, to pretend she didn't want to stick her head into the sand and make the world go away. To pretend she had gotten over it. To pretend she didn't look at her phone every other minute, still hoping for news from the police. Hoping they had found something, anything.

To lie to everyone, saying that she had moved on, didn't care, had accepted what had happened.

if they knew anything at all they would know she was bluffing, that the hole in her chest was wider than ever.

She exhaled heavily and sat up, flicking on her light. She ran her fingers through her hair and stepped onto the wooden floor of her bedroom. Rifling through her closet, she pulled out jeans, a black T-shirt and put them on. She slid her phone in her pocket and padded out to the kitchen. Thank God it was Saturday. She could stay inside all day and be as anti-social as she wanted to be. She pulled out a bagel from the cupboard and a serrated knife from the knife holder and started to saw through the bagel, her mind wandering. She came back to reality as the knife bit into her finger harshly.

"Ah!" she cried, dropping what she was holding. There was a wicked cut on one hand and blood was streaming down her hand. Cursing loudly she ran the tap and stuck her hand underneath, washing off the blood. When she pulled her hand away, she was confused. She had seen the gash with her own eyes. The bloody water was still trickling down the sink. So where was the cut? She turned her hand over, panic quickly rising in her.

her hand had _healed_ itself.

What was going on?!

So she made a decision that would look stupid and dangerous in hindsight, but seemed like a good idea at the time, and dragged the knife down her hand again. The wide ragged gash healed almost as soon as she made it, and she stared at her hand for a moment. Then she grabbed her keys and ran for the door.

X_X_X_X_X_

(a day previously)

Angela Petrelli was _not_ having a good day. She let out a huge sigh and rested her head in her hands. _Stupid girl. I cannot believe she could be so idiotic. Letting out all of those criminals_. Elle had made a good point though. They did have Sylar now. She just needed a way to turn Sylar to their side, to use him for their cause, to manipulate him. She had made a good start in that direction, telling him that she was his mother. That had taken care of his vulnerability with his mommy issues. There had to be something else...

A sudden thought struck her.

She picked up the phone and dialed a contact of hers.

"Hello. It's Angela Petrelli. I need you to find out every tiny detail of Gabriel Gray's personal life. Friends, acquaintances, a girlfriend. ASAP." she waited for an affirmative response and hung up, leaning back in her chair.

_A few hours later_

the phone rang, snapping Angela out of sleep. She picked up the phone and held it to her ear.

"Angela Petrelli."

"I got the information you wanted." She let out a sigh of relief and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen.

"Tell me."

"No close friends really, but I did find a girlfriend," the man on the phone said.

"Name?" said Angela impatiently.

"Jessica Travers. She lives in New York." The man recited an address and a phone number.

"Thank you for your help." She hung up the phone and quickly dialed the number.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X

Jessica dialed her mom in a panic as she drove through the crowded New Tork streets. When she got a busy signal, she hung up and dropped her phone from her hand. If anyone was going to know what was going on, it was her mom. She needed to talk to her, and soon, but she couldn't do that if her mom wasn't home. A minute later her phone rang. She grabbed it and shoved it against her ear.

"Mom. I need to talk to you."

"Jessica Travers? This is Angela Petrelli," said the woman on the other line. Jessica's cheeks flamed.

"I'm so sorry, I thought you were someone else," she said, and then added, "This really isn't a good time."

"I think you can make time. This is about a boyfriend of yours." Jessica turned off onto a side road and parked her car.

"What about a boyfriend of mine?" she asked, trying to clamp down on the inevitable tears.

"Did you date a Gabriel Gray?" the woman asked, as if the question wouldn't feel like someone had punched her.

"Y... Yes. I did. What is this about?"

"Can I just ask a few questions about his current mental condition?"

"Gabriel is _dead_. He doesn't have a current mental condition. What is this about?" By this time she was crying silently: as if she needed any more reminders.

"Who told you that he was dead?" asked the woman, Angela, in a gentler tone. Something in her voice sparked an emotion that Jessica hadn't felt in a long time:

Hope. Hope was something that fluttered beneath your tongue, called the butterflies into your stomach. But hope was also something that, if you weren't careful, could get stuck in your throat and you could choke on it.

"Jessica?" asked Angela after she didn't respond.

"What are you trying to say here?" she asked, her voice cracking.

"He isn't dead Jessica. He's very much alive."

Jessica sucked in a breath and then a million questions spilled out at once.

"Where is he? Is he okay? Is he with you? Can I talk to him? Where is he?!" Her voice rose higher with every question she asked. Angela sighed.

"All in good time. I will contact you again soon." Jessica realized what she was going to do before she did it.

"No please wait!" she cried, but she spoke into a disconnected phone, all of her questions unanswered. She slammed her hand into the steering wheel in frustration, and for the first time in a long time, she let herself be overcome by tears.

**_Big thank you to who helped me work out some of the issues with this and also helped me develop Jessica as a character. Reviews are always great!Thanks for reading!_**


	2. Chapter 2

_Emily Travers knew they were getting new neighbors so she baked a loaf of banana bread that Jessica was itching to try. Emily laughed and said it was for the new people next door. She said that it would be fun to have a nice family there, and especially because there was a little boy Jessica's age moving in too. The day the new family came Jessica was wriggling with impatience to go meet them, and to see into the mystery of the house next door. Emily told her to have patience, to wait until they were all moved in. When Emily finally gave Jessica permission to go over, Jessica shot out of her chair like a rabbit and grabbed the plate of bread. She ran over and knocked politely, as she was supposed to. A woman answered the door, and hiding behind her was a boy who was around Jessica's age, just like Mom had said. She held out the plate with a smile and introduced herself, directing her words to the boy in the doorway._

_"Hi! I'm Jessica!" she said excitedly. He smiled at her. He was dorky looking with glasses that were too big for his face, she decided, but he had a nice smile._

_"I'm Gabriel." he said back to her, and in that moment, she decided she would be his friend._

Angela hung up the phone and let a small smile creep over her face. She had been concerned that the two had been in a short relationship or that they didn't care enough about each other for this to work, but obviously they were closer than she anticipated. Noah walked into the room without knocking. He stopped and looked at her.

"Well don't you look like the cat that got the canary," he said, raising an eyebrow. She smiled at him.

"If this goes to plan we will have Sylar wrapped around our finger," she replied. A shadow passed over his face.

"About that, what are we planning on doing with that psychopath?"

"Just leave it to me Noah. Everything will work out fine."

"Might I remind you that the monster down there attacked my daughter? You think I'm just going to sit around and let him keep breathing?" said Noah incredulously.

"Yes, that's exactly what I think you are going to do. You are not in charge here Noah, I am. I have plans for Gabriel."

"Just call him Sylar. Stop pretending there's something human in him to save," said Noah as he turned and walked out of her office.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X

It didn't take Jessica long to figure out who had called her. [Caller ID is always useful, especially when some random woman calls you and says that your boyfriend who had been missing for three years is not, in fact, dead.] A quick search of the number brought up the page of some random paper company called Primatech. Weird. Maybe she had gotten the wrong number...? No. The number was right. She slumped in her desk chair and pondered whether or not she should call her mom. Her mom would just call her crazy, suggest she take a week off, go to a spa, go out with a new guy. Ha. Like that was ever going to happen. Jessica clicked around the Primatech web page for a few minutes, but didn't find anything of value.

Sighing, she dialed her mom's number, and made an executive decision not to mention that morning's incident with the knife or the strange phone call.

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X

Emily Travers looked down as her phone started ringing: it was Jessica.

"Hello Dear," she said cheerily.

"Hey Mom. You got a second to talk?" Jessica sounded... Strange. Emily was concerned.

"Of course I do sweetheart. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I mean, I'm great, I was just wondering... Have you heard of a company called Primatech?" The question, innocently asked, froze Emily's blood. Her daughter was asking about Primatech, which meant...

"Isn't that a paper company?" she asked, playing dumb.

"Yeah, it is, I was just wondering if you knew anything else about it."

"Well, no. I just vaguely recal the name." Emily was lying through her teeth. Jessica drew in a sharp breath.

"Mom, are you lying to me?" she asked, her voice close to breaking.

"No! Why would I ever lie to you?" she asked, desperate.

"You're lying. I know you are." The funny thing was that Jessica didn't sound calm and collected like someone accusing someone else of lying usually does. Her breathing was hitched and she had panic in her voice.

"Jessica, why don't you..." her sentence broke off as Jessica hung up the phone. She let her hand slump, the phone in her curled palm. What was going on?

X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X

It had started innocently enough. Jessica had gone to the bank, intent on getting some cash and then searching for this company. Of course that plan went out the window when four men walked in and started shooting fire everywhere. The man that was the source of the fire yelled, "Everyone on the ground, now!" and she, like everyone, else dropped in a panic. At first she had assumed he was using a flamethrower, but on closer examination she saw that the fire was coming from his hands. _Was he special too?_

One of the men was working on cracking the safe, while the others were roaming to make sure no one was going to try anything, like sounding an alarm. She held her breath, hoping it would all be over soon, when the sounds of police sirens filled the air.

X_X_X_X_X_X

Driving to stop a bank full of angry specials with Sylar in the passenger seat was at the bottom of the list of things that Noah Bennet wanted to do. Getting out of the car, his only thought was about the new, shiny, powerful abilities that Sylar could obtain that day if he wasn't careful. Noah was fairly sure he had made his point quite clear to the man that this was indeed a one-sided partnership, so he was angry and confused when Sylar swaggered ahead like he owned the place and demanded to know who was in charge.

"What are you doing?" Noah asked urgently. Sylar ignored him and continued to talk to the man that had come forward. He put on a good show for sure, bullying the man into moving the police car barricade back and also into getting them both decaf coffees.

"You drink decaf, right Noah?" he asked with an innocent grin.

Noah pulled on the bulletproof vest and took off his gun.

"What's that gonna protect you against?" Sylar asked.

"Nothing. It's for show," replied Noah, handing the murderer his gun.

"And you're going in without your gun?" he asked incredulously.

"Knox says he'll release the hostages if I go in alone and unarmed."

"You do know this is a trap right? Let me help you, I can do something."

"How comforting. A murderer cares about my well-being. You want to help? Debrief the hostages. Use that silver tongue of yours to diffuse their stories, but on no account are you to go anywhere near that buffet in there. Clear?" Sylar glared at Noah before giving a short head nod. Noah jogged away, towards the bank.

Sylar watched from the side as the hostages poured out of the bank, running as fast as they could. He did a double-take. Near the end of the line of people...was it her? He took a step forward, straining to see if it was who he thought it was. Jess?

It was her, there was no mistaking it. She looked... Sad. Sort of drained. He knew it was his fault. He wanted to run over to her, to apologize for everything, but then the fact that Noah was in trouble diverted his attention. He debated actually going in to save Noah, it wasn't like the jerk deserved it, and decided that he probably should go in and help him out. As he went over, he glanced back to make sure Jess was okay, and saw her being corralled into an area with all the other rescued hostages. He walked over to the entrance of the bank in time to hear Bennet say, "A guy who has a partner right behind you." Everyone in the room turned to look at him and as two of the men moved to attack him, he reached out with his telekinises and held them away from him.

After they had handled the specials, Noah cuffed Flint and proceeded to take him into custody. Sylar turned to the other two men who were cowering on the floor, hands up. Staring at Jesse, he felt the familiar hunger rising up in him. It would be so easy, to draw a red line across his head, to get a new ability. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something that made him drop his hands and control the hunger. Jess stood there, talking animatedly to a police man. He backed away from Jesse, leaving the man staring at him with an expression of fear.

Jessica was tired and freaked out and stressed and just wanted to go home. She couldn't though. The police seemed to have a million questions for her. Everyone was worried she was in shock. Her mom had been calling her for the past half hour, and she had finally turned her phone off. She leaned against a cop car, taking a break from all of the questioning and looking around to watch everyone else. There was a woman with two children, a man who looked like a college proffesor. There was a teenager who looked like she was about to pass out, a man in a suit._ A man in a suit._

She took a step forward, trying to see him more clearly. She bobbed and weaved between people, and then he turned and she saw that it was him. He was wearing a suit and didn't have his glasses on, but it was _him_. Adrenaline was pumping through her as she ignored the officer who was trying to talk to her and took off straight towards him.

**Okay, chapter two DONE! Phew. Please leave a review and tell me what you liked, didn't like, or want to see in the future. Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

_Emily marched her daughter through the front door. Jessica had gone to school that day with her hair in a nice ponytail and her clothes neat. When Emily had gone in to retrieve her daughter after the phone call from the office, she was full of mud, sticks, and blood. Emily stared at her with a stern look on her face that was slowly slipping into a laugh. She sat her down and dabbed some antiseptic onto Jessica's scratches."Can we go over this whole thing one more time honey?" asked Emily."Jared broke Gabriel's glasses," said Jessica angrily, "so I punched him and asked him how he liked it. Are you mad at me?" She looked at Emily with her big hazel eyes."I am a little mad at you for punching Jared, yes. I'm also proud of you for wanting to help your friend. Go get yourself changed Supergirl." she smiled affectionately as Jessica ran into her room. Then she heard a knock on the door. She walked over and found Gabriel waiting, a worried expression on his face."Is Jessica in trouble? Is she okay? Can I play with her today?" he asked, all at once. Emily stared at this little boy for a second, wondering how he had wormed into their hearts so fast, and then laughed and opened the front door wide._

Noah finished talking to the officer who was controlling the transport of the specials and then turned to see what Sylar was doing. He looked just in time to see a pretty woman stalk over to him and slap him across the face. Stunned, he started to run over to make sure Sylar didn't do anything stupid, like kill the girl, but contrary to being angry, Sylar looked... Afraid.

"Three years!" she screamed at him. "Three YEARS. Do you have any idea what you put me through?!" Sylar backed away from her fury and Noah almost laughed. The psychopath was afraid of a twenty-something year old girl.

"Jess." he started.

"Don't you dare 'Jess' me! Where the hell were you?"

"Jess."She was on a rampage now.

"You didn't call me, you didn't write me, you didn't email me. I thought you were DEAD. You could have said something before you vanished off the face of the earth!" she was crying now. Noah suspected it was from relief, but he wasn't positive. He was close enough to intervene in the whole thing, but had decided to see what was going to happen before he jumped in.

"Jess." Sylar said again. He was looking at her as if she was made of gold. She opened her mouth again, possibly to let loose another wave of anger, and before she could, he kissed stood there, stunned. His mind had trouble processing what was happening in front of him. Why was he kissing her? More importantly, why was she kissing him back? Who was this girl? Before he could do anything else, a police officer came over and tapped the woman on the shoulder.

"Ma'am we are almost done here. If you could come with us for another second we can be done here." he said apologetically. She broke away from Sylar and looked at the officer and then back at him.

"Yes, of course. Stay RIGHT THERE." she said emphatically. "Don't move." Then she let herself be pulled away by the walked over to Sylar, who was staring after the woman with a strange expression on his face.

"Let's go," he said. Sylar stared at him like he was insane.

"No," he said stubbornly.

"When you're in charge around here, you can make the rules. For the time being, I will be the one making the rules, and I'm saying that we are going back to your little cell on level five right now." Sylar stared at him, weighing his options. Noah pulled out a Taser and pointed it at him discreetly. The message was clear: come with me or I will drag your unconscious body into the car. He chose the former option and got into the car, slamming the door behind him. Noah sighed and got in drove in silence for a while."You gonna tell me who that was?" said Noah into the harsh quiet.

"No," replied Sylar, almost sullenly.

"I could just find out." said Noah sat up and turned towards him. "Don't go near her," he said viciously. Then the silence returned. Noah mused on that response for the rest of the drive to the Company.

Angela looked up as Noah entered her office.

"How did it go then?" she asked.

"Fine. Our little problem didn't even kill anyone," he said.

"So it went off without a hitch?" she asked."Well," he hesitated, "there was one thing."Angela looked at him interestedly. He explained the whole confrontation with the girl that Sylar had called "Jess."

"She wasn't supposed to see him yet!" exclaimed Angela after he was done.

"Wait, you mean you meant for them to meet up eventually? You do realize he's a serial killer right? Just making sure you didn't forget that the girl you have involved in your scheme can get hurt." Noah was angry now.

"Relax Noah. I'm not going to let anything happen to Jessica."

"Who is she anyway? He never explained."

"Well it should be pretty obvious that she was his girlfriend before he manifested. I'm still trying to work out how deep their relationship ran."

"Why are you focused on her?" Noah asked, confused. "How is she important?" Angela stared at him."She is important to him," she said simply.

"Yes but how is that-."

"Think about Claire. You would do anything for her. The same goes for Gabriel and Jessica."

"He's a psychopath! You honestly think that he cares about her at all anymore?!"Angela nodded. Noah looked at her, his expression unreadable. "She's bait," he said, horrified. "You're going to use her to get to him."

"Don't act all high and mighty. You've done the same thing."

"Not with Sylar!" yelled Noah, "just put him down and be done with it!" Angela looked at him in silence and he shook his head in disgust and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

**Sorry this one is short, the next chapter will be much longer! Please R&R any comments would be much appreciated! I don't own Heroes or any of the characters except Jess :)**


	4. Chapter 4

_Jessica clinked her bottle of water against Gabriel's. It was officially the first day of summer, and they were officially out of Elementary School. She flopped down on her back in their shared treehouse and he followed suit. _

_"What do you think Middle School is like?" she wondered aloud. He rolled over and looked at her._

_"I don't know," he replied honestly. She grinned at him and his heart skipped a beat. _

_"Whatever. We have two months to figure it out. Race you to the park?" Without waiting for an answer, she jumped to her feet and climbed down the ladder to the ground. Gabriel jumped up and followed her, trailing along after her as always. Jessica always ran faster than him, so he knew she would get to the park first. When he finally arrived, out of breath, he didn't see her anywhere. He turned full circle, puzzled. Then he heard a muffled scream._

_"Gabriel!" He started running towards the sound. A strange man was trying to pull Jessica away. Without thinking, he picked a large rock up off the ground and threw it at the man. It hit his head with a thud and the man cried out in pain dropping Jessica onto the ground. She got up and fled as the man brought his hand away from his head. It was bloody. Gabriel picked up another rock to throw as Jessica screamed for help. The man looked at both of them and turned, jumped into his car and drove away as fast as he could. Gabriel dropped his rock as Jessica threw her arms around him. He hugged her back, surprised. She was crying and pressed her face against his shoulder. _

_"We should tell someone about this," he said. _

_"No!" she cried. "You hurt him. You might get in trouble!" This logic, of course, made sense to their ten year-old brains, but as Jessica remembered the incident years later, she couldn't help but wonder what would have happened to her had Gabriel not shown up to be her knight in shining armor. _

Jessica walked down the dark street. It had been two days since the situation at the bank. She hadn't seen Gabriel again. She had started to wonder if she had imagined the encounter. If her brain had just been so starved that she invented him. She wondered if she was going insane. If it hadn't been imaginary, she knew she should never have walked away from him. She zipped up her sweatshirt angrily. Suddenly, she heard noise coming from the park she was walking by. Standing on the carousel was a vaguely familiar man in a suit, a blonde teenage girl, and another man. The last man looked very upset. She looked around and noticed a nearby car. She dropped the bag she had been carrying.

Gabriel.

He was leaning against the car, looking faintly pissed. Still dressed in the suit. He was watching the other three people, so he didn't see her as she went towards him.  
Sylar was watching Bennet carefully, Sylar's super hearing attuned to what Bennet was saying. With a jolt, something crashed into him. His adrenaline kicked in as someone touched him. He looked around and saw who it had her arms wrapped around him desperately. He looked at her and saw that her face was streaked with tears. She was studying him intently, looking at his face, touching his arms, his hands, as if she was trying to assure herself that he was, indeed, real. Which was probably exactly what she was doing, he thought. Her mouth opened as if she was about to say something. He put his hands on the back of her head and kissed her instead. Instantly, fireworks exploded behind his eyes. Her fingers wove into his hair and she pulled him closer. It had been years since they had kissed like this, but apparently it was like riding a bike: you never forgot. There was no moment of adjustment, they knew how they fit. He tasted salt and broke away to see that she was sobbing. He cradled her face in his hands and wiped away the tears with his thumbs. Then, shouting drew his attention. He looked over at the carousel.

Bennet was yelling at the vortex man, _what was his name again_? Claire was yelling at her precious daddy. In that instant, the man (kissing Jess really had scrambled his brain if he couldn't remember this guy's name) made a vortex and sucked himself into it.

"What just happened?" asked Jess shakily. He looked back down at her and saw that she had herself under control again. She always bounced back so fast. He had always admired that about her, among other things.

"I'll get back to you on that," he said as the Bennets walked towards them. She came to standing by his side, her hand firmly in his. He realized with some amusement that she was never going to let go of him again.

"Who the hell are you?" said Bennet the elder to Jess. Sylar was about to jump in and tell Bennet it was none of his business, but Jess replied before Sylar could.

"The Queen of England" she said cooly.

"You're the girl from the bank!" Bennet exclaimed. "Well, I see we can't avoid you anymore. Get in the car." he said.

"You're supposed to ask with 'please'," she said softly, opening the door and sliding in. She pulled Sylar in after her. Sylar slammed the door behind himself and looked over at her. Her face was brimming with questions that he didn't know if he'd be able to answer.  
Noah dropped Claire off at home and then drove back to the Company. He looked at the two people in the backseat in the rear view mirror. Jessica had her head on Sylar's shoulder, their hands intertwined. Noah met Sylar's eyes in the mirror and looked away. Sylar's gaze had been protective and predatory. He wondered what Angela would do with the girl. He wondered if he should let Angela have the girl. Above all, he wondered how she would react when she realized that Sylar was who he was.  
Jessica was happier than she had been in a long time. Yes, she was in a car with a strange man, yes she was going to God-knows-where, but she was with Gabriel. She had her head on his shoulder and she was content just breathing in the familiar scent of him. They hadn't talked about anything important the whole drive, just simple things like how they were and what books they had read recently. The car turned sharply into an underground garage. The man in the front, Bennet, parked and got out, gesturing for them to do the same. Gabriel opened the door and stepped out and pulled her along. She stepped closer to him as they entered the building. Bennet stopped in front of them and considered them. Just then, a woman walked down the hall towards the trio. She looked at Noah, looked at Gabriel, then looked at Jessica.

"Oh dear," Angela sighed. "You had better come with me Jessica."Jessica stared at her.

"You're the woman who called me!" Jessica exclaimed angrily. Angela exchanged looks with Bennet. Obviously they communicated something silently because Bennet started to lead Gabriel away. "No!" she cried as Angela took ahold of her arm. Gabriel looked at her, his dark eyes fathomless.

"It's okay," he promised, "I'll catch up with you later."  
Sylar let himself be led back to level five. Bennet keyed in the code and he walked inside. Bennet didn't walk away as he had expected. He leaned in the doorway.

"You should enjoy the last moments you'll ever have with her." Bennet said pointedly. "Once she figures out what you are she won't want to go near you." Sylar ignored him. "Did you really think we would just let you be around her? I mean, Angela was all for it, but I realized that her life is at risk when she's around you. Especially because she's a Special too."Sylar slammed him up against the wall with his ability.

"I would never hurt her," he hissed. Bennet smiled at the fact that he had pushed Sylar past his limit.

"The only person that ever loved you is going to be afraid to be near you." he said gleefully.

"Shut up!" yelled Sylar angrily. "You don't know anything!" Then he let Bennet fall to the ground and turned away as he shut the door to his cage.


	5. Chapter 5

_Jessica grabbed the bag of cookies from the cabinet and Gabriel picked up the bottle of soda off the counter. They walked into the living room that they had previously set up: There were two sleeping bags unrolled on the floor and a massive pile of pillows. The TV was on and waiting for the movie they would put in. Lots of people at school either thought it was bizzare that the two of them still had sleepovers in 7th grade, or were jealous of the fact that they were allowed to. Jessica bent down next to the movie case._

_"What should we watch?" she asked, thumbing through the wide collection. "Something scary," he said, pouring her a glass of Coke. She grinned. _

_"How scary is scary?" she asked, fingers jumping to the horror section._

_"I don't know, anything that won't give you nightmares," he teased. She threw a pillow at him. Just then Emily came down the stairs. _

_"Hey Gabriel!" she said, chipper._

_"Hey Emily," he replied. She walked over to look at what they were watching._

_"Poltergiest is good." she said, pulling the movie out of its spot. Jessica took it from her and read the back._

_"Looks great!" she said, "Thanks Mom." Emily smiled. _

_"Don't stay up too late," she said, and they all knew perfectly well that "too late" meant anytime after three in the morning. Then she walked back upstairs._

_"Have I mentioned how much I love your mom?" asked Gabriel, settling in to watch the movie. Jessica shot him a small smile that made his stomach flip over. She flipped off the lights and then came over to sit by him, like they had done a million times. It was different this time. He felt like there were a dozen tiny sparks in between them. It was confusing. She turned to give him a weird look and he realized he had been staring at her._

_"Everything okay?" she asked. _

_"Ya," he said, turning his attention back to the screen. But he wasn't okay._

"We need to talk. About Gabriel," said Angela, leading Jessica into her office. _I knew this was coming_, thought Jessica. She sat down tentatively on the chair that Angela gestured to.

"So I assumed," she replied, looking around the spacious office.

"It's been what, three years since you last saw him?"

"Give or take a bit. Now let's cut the crap. First I get a bizzare phone call from you talking about him. Next I see him at a hostage situations at a bank and he disappears right after. Then I see him again and there is a man who can apparently make black holes. Now I'm here, talking to you, and no one will give me a straight answer!" Jess said, livid.

"You want a straight answer? Fine. Gabriel has been gone because he is a serial killer who goes by the alias of Sylar." Jessica stared at her for a second and then laughed. Angela looked confused. "Why is this funny?" she asked angrily.

"You honestly expect me to belive that?"

"Why don't you?"

"Let's see, why would I trust him over you? Oh, I know! I've known him since Kindergarten. Also, he wouldn't hurt a fly. Literally. He only ever killed spiders because I asked him to."

"I'm telling you the truth Jessica," Angela said calmly.

"Prove it," hissed Jessica. Angela sat back in her chair.

"Give me time and I will," she said simply. "Would you like a ride home?"

"I'm not leaving," stated Jessica. "Last time I left his general area he vanished again."Angela sighed.

"I knew you were going to say that, so I had a room prepared. Ella will show you to it." Jessica turned around and saw a woman standing in the doorway. She smiled, and Jessica stood up, casting one last glance at the creepy woman behind her. Then she turned and walked through the door.

Sylar stood in his cell uncertainly. The strange fast woman and her friend were gone and the door was open. Jess was probably still in the building somewhere. But then again, so was Bennet. _Idiot. When did you become afraid of Horn Rimmed Glasses_? He stepped out of the cell. In the room next to his he saw a familiar person. Peter? He supposed it made sense that they had him locked up, seeing as he had had Sylar's ability now. Without thinking, he stepped forward, opened the door, and woke Peter up from the artificially induced coma. He snapped to attention.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Sylar said cautiously.

Jessica lay in her bed staring at the ceiling. She heard loud yelling and a crash suddenly. She sat up and went to the door only to find it locked. Panic rising in her, she pulled a bobby pin out of her hair and bent forward to pick the lock. A few minutes later the lock clicked and she pushed open the door. She went towards the place she had heard the crash a few minutes earlier, walking quickly. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and she pressed herself into a doorway. A strange man ran past, looking determined. She came out of the doorway and stared after him and then turned around to see where he had come from. A door was still swinging down the hall. She walked towards it and pushed through to find a set of stairs leading down. She started going down apprehensively, wondering what she would find. Intuition led her to stop at the bottom of the stairs, which was clearly labeled Level Five. She pushed the door open and sucked in a breath. The room she faced was divided into cells with large panes of (probably) bulletproof glass. She stepped forward and looked into one empty cell after another. Then she came across a cell that was not, in fact, empty. She pushed open the door and practically ran in. She placed her hand on Gabriel's head. He was just lying there. Why wasn't he moving?!

A sort of tubelike thing was connected to his face, just over his nose. She hesitantly removed it, and he suddenly sucked in a huge breath.

He sat up, looking confused, and then he saw her. He pulled her in and hugged her, and into her ear he whispered, "Are you okay?"Jessica pulled back and nodded.

"Are you gonna tell me what's going on here?" she asked, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice. His mouth quirked up into a familiar smile and her heart skipped.

"Let me get you out of here and I'll try," he promised. "Stay close and let's go."

Weaving her fingers through his, she followed him up the stairs again. He led her to a room and inside she saw Angela lying on a bed, hooked up to a plethora of machines. She gasped.

"What's wrong with her?" she asked frantically.

"I don't know," he responded, "I think it's some kind of coma." He cast a sideways glance at her. "I thought you hated her."

"I do," Jessica said, "don't get me wrong here." Gabriel laughed and then looked back down at Angela's unconscious body. She drew closer to him. "Why are you looking at her like that?" she asked him.

"She's my mother," he replied simply. She shook her head.

"No. She's not. I've met your mother."

"Yes, well she wasn't my real mother," he explained, which wasn't really an explanation at all. She decided to stay silent for now and grill him for information later. He touched Angela on the forehead and then stepped away from her bed, pulling Jessica behind him.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"To find out who did this to her and how to reverse it." His tone was grim.

"Okay," she said softly.

They had stolen a car at the Company and were now well on their way to Pinehearst. Sylar looked over at Jess, who was sitting complacently in the passenger seat. She turned to him, and he saw she had a question perched on her tongue.

"Yes?" he said with a smile.

"Your glasses," she said.

With a laugh he replied, "I fixed my eyesight problems a while ago." She nodded.

"I have one more question if you don't mind."

"Why would I mind?" he wondered.

"Angela said something back at the company." She hesitated. "She said that you... That you had hurt a lot of people." She let out a small nervous laugh. "I know that sounds ridiculous, but I wanted to check. So, is it true?"He was mentally panicking. He couldn't lie to her. He never could. But he couldn't tell her the truth. _What am I going to do?_

"Yes."


	6. Chapter 6

"Yes," he said simply. Jessica felt her heart jump into her throat. _What? Is he serious? How is that even possible? He isn't a violent person. He's just a watchmaker_.

"Uhhh." _Well that was intelligent. Idiot_. She could feel him watching her, and for the first time his gaze made her skin crawl.

"I can pull over and let you out if you want," he offered. She shifted in her seat.

"No, I don't want that. I just want to... Understand I suppose."

"I can help with that. Remember the time I showed you my ability?"

"The telekinises. Yes."

"Well its not just that." She looked at him intently. His gaze was firmly on the road."I sort of... Covet the abilities of others. And I can take them."

"By killing them?" she asked, her voice little more than a whisper. He turned to look at her suddenly.

"I can't control it. It's this hunger, this hunger that comes with my ability. I don't want to hurt people," he said desperately. He was staring at her, intensity in his eyes. She could almost read what he was thinking on his face.

"Okay," she whispered, "it's okay." Relief swept over his features. Then uncertainty.

"It is?" he asked.

"I love you," she said simply. "And I know you would never hurt me. We can handle this. Together."

Sylar got out of the car and motioned for Jess to get out too. He was still reeling from their conversation earlier. _She still loves me_. He walked toward the building briskly, knowing that Jess was right by his side.

"I'm not sure what we're going to find in here," he cautioned. "I think it's gonna be best if you wait in the lobby." She stared at him incredulously.

"I'm not waiting in the lobby," she said flatly.

"I don't want you getting hurt," he started.

"I can't get hurt," she said, chipper. He blinked, but before he could confront her about that bombshell, she was skipping ahead.

"Please wait here?" he said, attempting again.

"No chance." With a resigned sigh, he walked up the stairs with her to the upper level of Pinehearst. He was listening intently using his senseitive hearing power, and he was prepared to throw anyone out of his way. They turned a corner and he heard a familiar voice echoing from further down the corridor. He sped up just in time to see a couple of familiar faces in a big lab room. Mohinder and Peter. One person he didn't want to see, and one person he did. Peter was strapped to a gurney-like table and Mohinder held a syringe. He raised a hand and the syringe flew out of Mohinder's hand. He advanced on Mohinder and Mohinder threw the first punch.

An Indian man and Gabriel were fighting over on the side of the room. She scurried over and unstrapped the man tied to the gurney. He looked at her with a moment of gratitude and then ran. She went to break up the fight and felt herself being grabbed from behind. The guard in the room, who had previously been forgotten, pinned her arms behind her back. As she struggled to get free, she saw the Indian man punch Gabriel and knock him unconscious. She cried out and tried to wrench herself from the grasp of the man holding her. The other man was bent down, saying something she couldn't hear. A loud voice stopped both the man and the guard who was roughly pulling her away from the scene.

"Don't hurt him Dr. Suresh. He's my son."

Jessica sat in the modern room sipping at a glass of water. Gabriel and Arthur Petrelli had been gone for a while, and while she wasn't worried exactly, she was wondering where they were.

"Hey!" said a voice. She jumped about a foot and then turned to see the same man she had freed from the gurney standing in front of her. He crossed the space quickly.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking her over, possibly for injuries.

"I'm fine. Who are you exactly?"

"Peter Petrelli," he replied, giving her a lopsided grin. Petrelli? Hold on...Seeing her glance, he said, "Yes, I am that intimidating man's son."

"I was thinking more along the lines of Angela Petrelli actually. I'm Jessica Travers by the way."

"Oh you've had the pleasure of meeting my dear mother? Let me guess. She kidnapped you and fed you lies about your entire life to get you loyal to her." Peter sounded bitter.

"That's half true."

"We can talk about that more later. We should leave now."

"I can't leave yet," she explained, "I'm waiting for someone."

"Who could you possibly be waiting for here?"

"Gabriel Gray," she said, not sure if he would be familiar with the pronoun. Obviously he was. He looked at her.

"Why would you be waiting for him?" he inquired.

"Oh, reasons," she said, being intentionally vague. They both looked up as Arthur and Gabriel walked into the room. She searched his face for clues about what the two had been discussing. He tilted his head to the side, which after many years of silent communication she had come to read as later. She nodded imperceptibly. Arthur motioned for her to talk to him as Gabriel approached Peter.

"If I'm to understand, you are Gabriel's girlfriend?" he asked.

"Yup. Why's this important?"

"Many reasons you cannot even begin to comprehend. I am going to need your help in the future." She turned around, distracted by raised voices.

"I'm sorry Peter," said Gabriel softly as he raised his hand and flung Peter out of the window. She ran forward and looked over the edge of the building. Peter got up painfully with the help of a blonde girl. She turned to Gabriel.

"What the hell?"

Claire ran as Peter hit the ground. He wasn't healing.

"Why aren't you healing?" she demanded, taking his arm and helping him stand up. She followed his gaze to the window he had come flying out of and saw an unfamiliar woman standing up there, concern written all over her face. She was gorgeous, with long, wavy brown hair and very pale skin. "Who's that?" she asked as she helped Peter limp away from Pinehearst.

"No idea. I only know her name is Jessica and she has some connection with Sylar." Claire turned to give the mystery woman one last glance before she put Pinehearst firmly behind her and focused only on getting Peter to safety.

Jessica was advancing towards Gabriel. He was backing away. It was rather comical from an outsider's point of view.

"You threw him out of a window!"

"He's fine! He walked away!"

She threw up her hands in exasperation. "And that makes throwing someone out of a window okay?!"

"Don't blame Gabriel. I asked him to do that to Peter," interjected Arthur.

"What, you just kill on command now?" she asked Gabriel angrily.

"Jessica-"

"Shut up," she said shortly to Arthur. He looked taken aback. "Do me and favor and don't talk to me for half an hour, okay?" With this statement she turned and stalked out of the room. The two men stared after her.

"I'm sorry," started Sylar.

"Don't apologize for her. I didn't take offense. On the contrary, I rather like her temper."

Sylar ran a hand through his hair. "I should go find her."

"No, you probably shouldn't Son. Give her time to adjust and accept reality. She would probably bite you right now anyway." With a chuckle, Arthur walked away from Sylar, shaking his head.

**Thanks for reading! Please R&R and tell me what you did like, didn't like, and want to see improved!**


	7. Chapter 7

_Gabriel watched as Jessica back flipped off the boat into the middle of the lake. She was underwater for an incredible amount of time, and just as he was beginning to get concerned, she splashed to the surface and grinned at him. _

_"Your turn!" she said excitedly. He stood up unsteadily and then dove into the water. It was freezing. He swam down, determined to stay under for as long as she had. When he felt his oxygen beginning to run out, he kicked for the surface. Rising up quickly, he grabbed one of Jessica's ankles and pulled her under. He heard a muffled scream, and then he broke the surface, sucking in a huge gulp of air. She glared at him."Not cool Gabriel."_

_He shook the wet hair off of his forehead and then floated on his back. It was a gorgeous summer day between eighth and ninth grade, and he was spending it with Jessica and her mom, he couldn't've been happier. Then his whole day went downhill. Another boat pulled up near theirs. It looked expensive, even from the water, and he guessed it was someone either Emily or Jessica knew. It turned out to be the latter when Drew Jones looked down from the boat. _

_"Hey Jessica!" he called. _

_"Hey Drew!" she replied happily. Gabriel's heart sank. Drew was on his list of least favorite people. There was a splash and then Drew swam over to them. Jessica smiled at Drew sweetly and jealousy tugged at his heart. She never smiled at him like that. Just then Drew noticed him. _

_"Get lost four eyes," he sneered cruelly. He was about to do something, like cuss Drew out, but Jessica jumped in first. She placed a hand on Drew's arm._

_"Leave him alone," she said fiercely. "He's my friend." Drew looked away from him._

_"Whatever," he felt a grin stretch his face. Jessica might have a crush on Drew, but he had her loyalty_.

Knox and Flint had backed her against a wall. They had recognized her from the bank, and had decided to have a little "fun" with her. Knox let her hair slip through his fingers.

"You're a pretty one then," he leered at her.

"She's a regenerator too," grinned Flint, lighting up his hand.

"Stop," she said firmly.

"Oh you talk tough, but you're terrified. I can smell it."

Flint held his burning hand closer to her face and she backed away, only to bump into Knox who slipped his hand onto her waist. Panic rose up in her throat, but then suddenly Knox and Flint were gone, shoved up against the wall. Gabriel stalked further into the room.

"Who do you think you are?" he asked coldly. "No one said you could talk to her. No one said you could go near her, especially after what you've already done." He raised a hand threateningly.

"Gabriel!" she exclaimed. He looked at her, and in his dark eyes she saw Sylar. As he looked at her they softened.

"Get out of here," he said, letting the two men drop. "And if I ever see you within 10 feet of her ever again I swear I will kill you." They scurried away without a backwards glance. He came over and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" he asked. She nodded mutely and he pulled her into a kiss. His lips were gentle on hers, and his hands rested softly on her back and her shoulder. She wondered at how hands capable of such atrocities could be so gentle when touching her, how a mouth that could utter such cold things could be so warm on hers. She pulled away after a moment and rested her head on his shoulder. His arms circled her around her waist and they stood there, simply embracing. "I'm sorry about earlier," he said softly, into her ear. She hugged him tighter.

"Its okay. It was just... Just weird," She sighed. He twisted a lock of her hair around his finger.

"It's going to be okay," he promised, "I would never hurt you."

_But you hurt others, isn't that just as bad?_

"I know," she responded quietly.

"I love you."

"I know."

Jessica roamed the halls of Pinehearst aimlessly. She didn't know where she was or where she was going. She had lost track of Gabriel when Arthur had pulled him away for a "private discussion." That had been 45 minutes ago, and she was getting slightly concerned. She had seen a couple of other people around the halls, but no one had moved to talk to her, or had even acknowledged her presence. She walked by a door that seemed slightly familiar and turned around to walk back to it. Maybe there was someone inside who could assist her. She pushed through the doors.

"Hello?" she called. She looked around the large lab for any trace of life. "Is there anyone in here?"

She rounded a corner and saw something that made her stomach roll over. A man was strapped down inside a small glass room. The only thing was, the man wasn't really a man anymore: he was deformed, there were odd growths all over his body, and he was making audible went toward the glass room quickly, concern taking the place of disgust. She opened the door thoughtlessly and stopped right next to the poor man. He looked at her through slitted eyes.

"Please," he moaned, "make the pain stop. Please kill me." She felt a tear roll down her face.

"Who the hell are you?" asked a voice from behind her, "Get out of there!"

She turned and saw the same man who had gotten into the fight with Gabriel earlier.

"Help me," begged the man on the table. She made her choice and took the deformed man's hand. Suddenly she felt a new sensation running through her. It was like an electrical current attaching the two. She wanted to pull away, but her hand was fixed. Before her eyes, his growths and deformities vanished. The machine monitoring his vitals returned to normal. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was a completely healthy man staring at her in shock from the table.

Mohinder caught the strange woman before she hit the floor. He quickly and methodically took her pulse and found it normal, if slightly elevated. The man on the table was loudly protesting at this point, so he decided it would be better to deal with the angry man first and the unconscious mystery woman later. He set her gently down on the floor and went over to the man who was struggling to break free of his bonds. The machines were all showing regular results. His blood pressure was back to normal, pulse was back to normal, he was no longer deformed. In short, he was exactly as he had looked before Mohinder had given him the formula.

"Get away from me, you monster!" yelled the man, straining against the restraints. He looked genuinely panicked, and he had every reason to be. Mohinder had hurt him, had changed him.

"How do you feel?" Mohinder asked intently. The man looked like he was about to respond when a different voice rang through the room.

"Mohinder?"

Sylar walked into the lab. Every person he had talked to in his pursuit of finding Jess had pointed him here.

"Mohinder?" he called warily. He really didn't want to get into another fight with the geneticist while he was busy looking for her. He rounded a corner in the spacious room and saw Mohinder bent over Jess's unconscious body. He crossed the space in a few long strides and threw Mohinder against the wall with a casual flick of his hand. Holding him there, Sylar kneeled next to Jess and gave her a quick once over.

"Let me down, I haven't done anything," choked out Mohinder. Sylar turned, a bitter sneer on his face.

"I've seen what you do in this place. If any of it has been done to her, I will-"

"What, kill me?" mocked the geneticist.

"Well there's that, and then there's the fact that I can cause you immeasurable amounts of pain and then kill you." He smiled. Mohinder stared him down.

"Like I said, I haven't done anything."

"Good!" Sylar said, letting Mohinder drop from the wall. He put one arm below Jess's knees and his other under her head, and swung her up.

"If this wasn't you, then what exactly happened?" Sylar asked suspiciously.

"Well, she healed someone." Sylar glared at him.

"You're lying. I've seen people heal others before, and no one passes out."

"The man... Well he couldn't be healed. I don't know how she did it."

Sylar looked down at Jess. Then he turned around and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" shouted Mohinder after him.

"Away from you," he called back, and opened the doors to the lab telekinetically. "And to figure out why my girlfriend can suddenly heal people," he murmured quietly to himself after he had passed out of Mohinder's hearing.

Jessica woke up with a start. Her eyes opened and she saw that she was laying on a couch. Just where that couch was she didn't know yet. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked around. It was the area in Pinehearst where Gabriel had thrown Peter put of the window. She stood up and became very dizzy very quickly. She sat back down.

"Don't rush things," said a familiar voice. Arthur smiled at her as he walked towards her. "You really over exerted yourself. Usually people start with healing something small. Like a cut or a bruise."

"Well I'm not the usual case, am I?" she asked, her voice small. He laughed.

"No you certainly aren't."

"So what exactly happened?" she demanded, putting a hand to her head. She had one hell of a killer headache.

"That's what we're trying to determine. You tell me what you remember.

""Well I-I was looking for Gabriel and the lab was a familiar place, so I went in. Then I saw this man, he was in pain, so I took his hand and then-" she stopped talking.

"And then what?" Arthur prompted.

"I don't know, it felt like an electrical current. What happened?" she asked again.

Arthur settled in a chair opposite her and folded his arms.

"You healed him." There was a beat of silence. She favored him with a peculiar look. "You healed him completely Jessica. It wasn't possible, but you did it. You are very special indeed."

Special... That word.

"_I just wanted to be special," pleaded Gabriel as she backed away from him._

_"You killed someone," she cried, horrified."_

_I didn't mean to, Jess, I didn't. It's not my fault!" He walked towards her; he held out his hands which had been covered in blood twice now. "Please, you have to believe me. I just wanted to be somebody."_

_"You were somebody. You were Gabriel Gray, you fixed watches, you had a loving mother, and a loving girlfriend."_

_"I was a nobody," he snarled angrily. _

_"Nobody or not, that was the person I loved. Not this. Not you," she bit out, horror filling her throat. _

_"Jess," he pleaded again. _

_"Just give me a while okay? Don't follow me." She turned around and walked out of their apartment. She hurried down the stairs and at the bottom she bumped into a man. "Excuse me," she said in annoyance. He smiled at her._

_"It's quite alright," he replied. Another man stepped in behind him. The first man was tall, dressed in a suit, and was wearing a pair of horn-rimmed glasses. The second was also tall, with very dark skin. He smiled at her, and she began to feel a bit nervous._

_"Have a nice day," she said, trying to skirt around them to the door. Horn-rimmed glasses reached out and took her arm._

_"Not quite yet Ms. Travers. We need to talk."_

_"Talk about what?" she squeaked, trying to wrench her arm out of his grasp. _

_"Your boyfriend. But don't worry, you won't remember a thing."_

"Jessica," said Arthur loudly. She snapped back to attention. He was looking at her with concern. "Are you alright?" he asked slowly. She nodded carefully. "What just happened?"

"Umm it was like a memory. But I had no memory of it before. Is that normal? I don't think that's normal." He held up a quelling hand.

"Quite normal," he replied. "I promise I will get everything explained in time, but right now I have somewhere I need to be." He stood up.

"Wait!" Jess exclaimed, "Where's Gabriel?"

Arthur smiled, "He is right over there." She spun in time to see him walk through the door. He made a beeline straight towards her. She stood up as he reached her, and he pulled her into a hug.

"You okay?" he asked. She leaned her head against his shoulder.

"I am now."

"I was thinking, it's kind of funny, isn't it?" he said.

"What's funny?" she wondered.

"The fact that I take life, and now you give it."

"Well I guess that just proves the old saying."

It was his turn to wonder."What old saying?"

"Opposites attract."

* * *

**A/N: So sorry this took so long! I had stuff, ect. going on. Felt like sharing two bits of info. 1. The Jess/Sylar relationship was entirely inspired by a song, which is, "Demons" by Imagine Dragons. 2. The story will be picking up very soon, sorry about the slow bits :)**

**Thank you so much for reading and please R&R! I love reviews! **


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